Week in Review: The latest from PhRMA

Fact Check Friday – When it comes to communications between with payers, biopharmaceutical companies are often constrained in sharing safety and efficacy information about medicines in development.  Read more about our recommended policy solutions regarding responsible communications with payers.

Getting TTIP right – The 13^th round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations that took place in New York City earlier this week provide a unique opportunity to provide enhanced patient access to urgently needed new treatments.  Learn more about the importance of not rushing the TIPP negotiations to meet arbitrary deadlines that could put the United States at a disadvantage and result in a weak agreement.

340B Spotlight – A new report released by the Alliance for Integrity and Reform of 340B (AIR340B) serves as another indication that nonprofit hospitals are not complying with the charity care requirements laid out in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The report reveals that 340B and non-340B hospitals had similar charity care compliance rates, even though 340B hospitals received almost $4 billion in additional financial benefits. Find out more about how the 340B program may not be reaching those in need.

Clinical Trials Awareness Week 2016 – May 2-6 is Clinical Trial Awareness Week, which is aimed at helping people better understand clinical trials and feel empowered to get involved in the process.   To celebrate this important observance, we are hosting a Twitter chat on May 5, at 12 p.m. ET. Join the conversation to discuss the critical need for clinical trial participation with #CTAW2016!

Implications of the proposed Part B model – In recent weeks, many providers and stakeholders have raised concerns that the Part B Drug Payment Model proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would fail to protect patients from access barriers and also reduce quality of care. A new issue brief from Discern Health builds on these concerns, revealing that the CMS has not yet a presented a monitoring and evaluation plan that would mitigate the risk of harm to Medicare beneficiary access and quality of care. Learn more about why stakeholders are calling for CMS to withdraw the proposal.

Celebrating World IP Day – Tuesday marked World Intellectual Property Day, a worldwide celebration of protections that foster creativity, risk-taking and innovation. Effective and strong IP protections are necessary to encourage R&D for the development of new medicines that will become generics after a period of time.   Read more about the critical role of IP in encouraging biopharmaceutical innovations.

CSRxP proposals would harm patients – New so-called “market-based proposals” to address health care costs are only a long list of new government regulations that would undermine the competitive market and give power to insurance companies to make treatment decisions for patients. Get the facts about how focusing on the small share of spending that goes towards life-saving medicines will not address the largest health care cost drivers.

Medicare Monday – This Monday, we discussed how the proposed dramatic changes to Medicare Part B would ignore the value of treatments that are tailored to patients’ individual needs.   Check out our case study of Simon, a hypothetical patient with late stage colorectal cancer, and why his specific treatment needs matter.